Developing world hits 98.7 per cent mobile phone adoption

The world has more mobile phone subscriptions than people, according to the International Telecommunications Union's Facts and Figures for 2017. The annual data dump is billed as an informed estimate about the state of the world's telecommunications services, compiled after ITU uses its authority as the United Nations' ICT …

[Anonymous Coward]

I've never carried more than one cell phone

but I see lots of people doing it. Seems like it must be a massive hassle, having to make sure they are both charged, having to respond to messages on two different ones.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

This must be a European thing. I almost never see people in the US carrying two phones, but from what I understand from people I work with in the EU it is considered normal. Maybe the stricter 'work life balance' type laws there dictate companies giving their employees phones so they can shut them off when they leave work?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

I know a few people with work as well as personal phones; when they are 'on call' at work they have the work phone is on and the moment their 'on call' shift stops it gets turned off.

Also easier to chat& text with 'significant other' when you are sure that the phone doesn't have company installed spyware.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

I've two phones.

Work & Personal.

Although as I'm on call, OOH calls go to my personal just so I don't have to carry two around (plus no one gets to see the number they are calling, so not worried).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

They make dual SIM phones for people like me who enjoy the benefits of two phones without the hassle. Dual SIM counts as 2 phones in the research.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

I too have only one phone but it has two sim cards, a legacy from needing a phone number in different countries.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

Most Kenyans carry a business phone and a personal phone (observed on a number of business trips to Nairobi). Here in the U.K, I like to keep the business and personal separate, so I carry the company provided Samsung S5 (loaded with Airwatch spyware, to access corporate email) and my Nexus 5X. Some of my colleagues treat the company provided phone as a perk, so just use that.

[gryff]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

When I worked in mobile phone quality, I always carried two phones, with different hardware and O/S.

You could never be too careful. :oD

[AMBxx]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

Not just phones. I have 4 spare SIM cards - mixture of data for WiFi gizmo and different networks for holidays with no O2 signal.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I've never carried more than one cell phone

I just use a Lumia 950 that takes 2 SIMs.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The world is on track to lose 32 million land lines, 24m of them in developing nations."

That's a really tactful way of saying the world is due to have 32m lines dug up and sold for copper mostly in developing nations.... and not usually by a telco.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, because that never happens in the UK.

[AMBxx]

Since the drop in copper prices, not such a big thing. It was only a few years ago that someone calculated that the scrap value of all BT's copper wire was greater than the stock market value of the company. Probably earmarked for paying the board a big bonus.

[luminous]

Dual SIM here as it's only free to call the same network on monthly payment plans or pre-paid promos, and cheaper to text the same network if using pre-paid. I hardly make any calls, but people can call me if they want (there are only 2 networks where I live).

I guess the researchers need to get out more and realise that non apple phones can and do have more than one sim in them. I would also point out that I have another sim card in the pocket wifi (backup internet connection), which I guess counts as another "subscription".

I see quite a few people carry a "dumb" phone because the batttery lasts for days, so that they can still communicate if the smart phone is dead (which it frequently is).

But of course the percentage doesn't sound as good if they actually think about it...

[katrinab]

There are loads of countries with a penetration rate of more than 100%. Macau is about 300%. So I think they are well aware that some people have more than one phone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nearly at the point for Richmond Valentine's plan to come to fruition.

[Scroticus Canis]

"... end of 2017 the world will have 3,578bn internet users, up from 2016's 3,385bn"

And there was I thinking there were only 7+ billion people on the planet.

Where are they hiding the extra three and a half trillion or are the ants and termites going on line?

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: "... end of 2017 the world will have 3,578bn internet users, up from 2016's 3,385bn"

I saw that too and after a moment of WTF? thought maybe the author is using the European numbering system of swapping a comma for a point as used in most of the English speaking world. But that doesn't jive with the claim of more mobile phone accounts than people so I now have no idea what those numbers mean.

[Cuddles]

"more than one subscription for the world's ~7.5bn people"

Well it would be a bit of a hassle if we had to share one subscription between all of us.